Page 29 of Royal Captive
“Where do you think you’re going?” We paused at the back kitchen door as a large, busty woman with a white apron leered down at us with a disgusted sneer.
Like it wasourfault we were covered in unmentionables.
“Uh … we finished cleaning. So—”
“Come into my kitchen? Like this? Disgusting heathens!” she shrieked, her voice rising in pitch with each word.
I saw her point—it couldn’t be sanitary to have us traipsing through the kitchen.
“Strip and leave your clothes. I’ll have the laundry girls collect them. Go bathe in the lake.”
She pointed over our heads, across the backyard to where a dark, black pond sat.
“It’s too cold!” the squat girl protested immediately.
Annie went white.
The other girl simply clenched her fists in her skirts, clearly preparing to put up a fight if forced to strip down.
I took a deep breath, and pulled my dress over my head in one go, letting it drop in a disgusting pile on the steps in front of the woman. Her lip curled as the soiled edges brushed her boot. Staring her down, I ignored the goosebumps that broke out along my skin.
There was a moment of stunned surprise from the others, then Annie followed, stripping and throwing her dress into the pile. I was keeping my boots on, no matter what was on them. I could clean them in the lake. The squat girl grumbled but went next, leaving only the slim girl left, her fists still balled in her skirts.
The kitchen woman put her hands on her hips, lifting an eyebrow.
“Don’t be a baby,” I grumbled at her. “No one is out here. The quicker it’s done, the quicker we go in!”
My stomach growled with hunger.
The girl’s eyes flicked to me nervously, but she shook her head obstinately.
“You either do it yourself, or I get someone to do it for you,” the woman threatened.
The girl’s eyes went wide with fear, but she stayed frozen.
“Emroy! Lexus!” the woman called over her shoulder. Two large, hulking men appeared, wiping their massive hands on dish towels and looking down on us curiously.
I made a snap decision, not caring if the girl hated me or not. I turned to her and ripped the dress down her body.
She shrieked and tried to kick me, but she was no match for my larger frame. The woman huffed and dismissed the men with a wave of her hand. Trying not to freeze, I tightened my grip on the girl’s upper arm and dragged her toward the lake on the far side of the field.
Annie’s chattering teeth were right in my ear as we all huddled close for an attempt at warmth.
Creaks and metallic groans filled the air behind us, followed by whoops and hollers from males and females, fae and human alike. My face flushed bright red, but the added heat was at least something.
“They’re all staring at us!” The tiny girl sniffed, abandoning her fight against me as I dragged her forward.
“And those guys would have done worse had you continued to refuse!” I snapped back. “Where do you think you are?”
Thick, fat tears streamed down her face. “I want to go home!”
The squat girl snorted. “Oh yeah? Why? I get fed here. The work isn’t any worse than anything back home. In fact, it’s a lot warmer! I don’t care if they all want to fuck me.”
She strode ahead of us, abandoning her boots at the muddy bank and throwing herself into the water.
Annie hesitated at the edge, but I knew there was no way to ease into this. I used my body weight and tumbled me and the tiny girl into the water.
My first instinct was to scream at the icy cold that seized my chest, but I couldn’t. It wastoo cold. I let go of the girl in reflex, then frantically waved my arms through the water to find her again. What if she couldn’t swim? The water wasn’t that deep here in the shallows, but panic did weird things to people.
